Once the cold open has passed, most episodes of “Saturday Night Live” of late have begun with the week’s host taking some kind of musical number. This week, Steve Carell tweaked fans of the hit NBC show “The Office” and their hopes for a reboot.

After Kate McKinnon took on Laura Ingraham in the show’s opening — a sketch that included a call back to the Fox News host booking someone called a “Vape God” — Carell took the stage and began taking questions from the audience.

It’s a familiar bit for an “SNL” host, and one that usually involves the cast interspersed with the crowd. This week, it involved the cast of “The Office” as they encouraged Carell to sign on for a reunion.

Nov. 16, 2018, 12:48 p.m.

Pop singer Zayn, who was raised by a Muslim father and a converted Muslim mother and has popped up on many a list as a famous Muslim entertainer, wouldn’t label himself that way at all.

“I’ve never spoken publicly about what my religious beliefs are,” he said in a new interview in British Vogue. “I’m not professed to be a Muslim.”

Zayn, who ditched the last name Malik around the same time he left One Direction in early 2015, said he believes that people’s religious beliefs are between them and “whoever or whatever they’re practicing.”

Nov. 16, 2018, 10:37 a.m.

Tracee Ellis Ross, left, introduces former First Lady Michelle Obama at the "Becoming" event at the Forum in Inglewood on Thursday. (Willy Sanjuan / Invision/Associated Press)

Former First Lady Michelle Obama was sitting in a waiting room while her mother underwent back surgery when she wrote the outline for her 2016 New Hampshire speech condemning President Donald Trump’s “Access Hollywood” tape.

“When I’m telling the truth, I’m not afraid,” Obama said during an event at the Forum in Inglewood on Thursday night to promote her bestselling new memoir, “Becoming,” according to the Associated Press.

“I was anxious about giving [the speech]. I know how I feel, and what I wanted to do at that time was take women to that place where we know how we feel when we are demeaned,” she said. “We have all experienced that at some point in time. Women don’t have the platform to say it out loud.”

Rebel Wilson might not be able to donate millions to the charity of her choice, but she was still relishing her $600,000 final defamation win Friday against Bauer Media.

“It’s been a long journey in the Australian courts these past few years and I am glad the matter is now at a definite end,” Wilson said in a series of tweets Friday after a high court rejected her appeal to keep the entirety of her original $3.6-million award.

“I have been determined to stand up to a bully and I am proud of myself for doing so.”

Nov. 16, 2018, 8:31 a.m.

Frank Scherma was elected as chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, succeeding Hayma Washington. (Television Academy)

Frank Scherma has been named the new chairman and CEO of the Television Academy Board of Governors, the organization announced Friday.

Scherma will begin his two-year term on Jan. 1 and succeeds Hayma Washington, who has led the organization since January 2017.

“As our industry continues to evolve faster than ever, I am committed to ensuring that the Television Academy is at the forefront of this growth,” Scherma said in a statement the academy released Friday.

Nov. 15, 2018, 10:06 a.m.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. is contributing to relief efforts following last week’s Thousand Oaks shooting and while the deadly wildfires scorching swaths of California still burn.

The HFPA, which hosts the annual Golden Globe Awards, will donate $300,000 to organizations helping those affected by the tragedies, organizers announced Thursday.

“From a devastating massacre in Thousand Oaks a week ago, to blazing wildfires that are still tearing through our state, it is times like this when the community needs to come together and support one another,” association president Meher Tatna said in a statement to The Times.